So I generally post my blogs on Friday, but I’m posting on Monday this week because I’m in Thailand and every so often a girl in Thailand has to get off the Internet and make like Dora. Since I’ve been doing so much go go going, I got distracted and the weekend got away from me. But now I repent!
This past week, my friend from Taiwan (@themisspw) arrived and we’ve been kicking around Chiang Mai eating and adventuring and generally doing indulgent things. She’s the girl who got me started on Instagram, and when we get together there’s a whole lot of discussion related to hashtagging and filter choice and ghost followers. In the spirit of Instagram sisterhood (and in the hopes that I can get @aelatcham to revive her account), I’m sharing a few Insta-highlights from the past week. If you’re as Instagram addicted as I am (Insta = life) then come follow me and my awkward adventures at @loladodge.
1. Fah Lanna Spa
Of course Thailand means spa + massage. Unfortunately, I’m a huge massage baby, but I went in wanting a facial and came out three hours later after a foot reflexology treatment and a neck/shoulder/back massage. OMG. I’m still ridiculously sore. Mind you, it relieved a ton of the tension caused by my bad writer posture, but my masseuse said: “Your back muscles very bad, very tight for very long time. That’s why very pain.” She really tried to work out my knots, but it was impossible in one session, so I may end up going back for more torture. Although I sort of think her knees digging into my ribs caused the very pain.
2. Temple Crawl
We went on a huge temple crawl, walking a few miles around the old city part of Chiang Mai (it has a moat!) in the 100-degree heat. I’m not going to guess how many temples there are in Chiang Mai, but even meandering all day, we didn’t scratch the surface. They are super pretty and you never know what you’ll find inside.
3. Kasalong Dessert Buffet @ Dhara Dhevi
The first thing you need to know about the Dhara Dhevi Hotel is that its cheapest room costs US$500 a night. It also has huge, sprawling grounds (that us peasants were not allowed to tread upon) and looks more like a palace than a place to stay. The Dhara Dhevi also has a cake shop, which cooks up the best desserts in Chiang Mai. And most importantly, the Dhara Dhevi cake shop has a dessert buffet on weekends. Imagine having access to as many macarons as you can eat without having to pay a dollar or whatever for each one…
Needless to say, I will be needing some larger pants. And notice that sneaky creme brulee in the top left corner of the pic? Yeah. I’m not sure how many of those I ate. But really, who’s counting???
Here’s me and the macarons. That is not at all a genuine smile, because the pic was taken before the buffet when I was hungry and frothing to get at the actual macarons.
4. Tom Yum Thai Cooking School
I finally made it to a Thai cooking class and it was #amazing (hashtag totally needed). We had a tiny group of three people and the class was held in a converted house, so it was all intimate with plenty of attention paid to our food. After a morning trip to the market, we started cooking and didn’t stop. The best part was that we each made different dishes from the school’s menu so we got to see and taste exponentially more Thai food. My menu was pad Thai, hot and sour soup with tofu, papaya salad, panang curry, and mango sticky rice. I still can’t believe how delicious everything turned out…and also, if you’ve never had it before, you need to get mango sticky rice in your life right now. It’s a little salty and sweet and savory…perfection!
5. Tha Pae Gate Market
We went to a fun market in the course of our wanderings and these SOAP FLOWERS are gorgeous. They’re obviously too pretty to ever use, but the colors and shapes are amazing, making this one of my personal fav Instagrams ever.
6. Actually Working
To be fair, I did do a little bit of work this past week. I’ve got books to write and pages to read… but I’m not even going to pretend that I put in my usual hours. I basically fooled around and it was pretty awesome ; )
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